governor romney lives to fight another day. many of president obama's key supporters voicing their disappointment today that he did not take on governor romney when he had an opportunity. here's some of the headlines. in fact, the "los angeles times" says, quote, obama fans are shocked by mitt romney's dominance in debate. "the chicago tribune" said for obama words not said spoke the loude loudest. it said obama hit with a left hook on tv and online. the president is hitted to wisconsin, but not before taking one last parting shot a a fiery rally in denver not too long ago. >> when i got onto the stage, i met this very spirited fellow who claimed to be mitt romney. it couldn't have been mitt romney, because the real mitt romney has been running around the country for the last year

promising $5 trillion in tax cuts to pay for the wealthy. the fellow on stage last night said he didn't know anything about that. >> around the same time governor romney was making a surprise appearance at the conservative political action conference, cpac in denver before heading to virginia for an event with congressman paul ryan later on this evening. zoo >> i know your passion for econo america and your desire to take our country back. for that to happen you guys have to cheer here and knock on doors and get people who voted for president obama to see the light sxwro and join our team. >> joining us now is steve boykin and anne cornbluth and steve deyes. the president out at that rally

seemed more enthusiastic. he said that was not the real mitt romney who showed up at the debate last night. so the question to you, was it the real president obama who showed up last night? >> great question, because the president obama at that rally is not what i saw on the debate stage last night. one lingering question in my mind and i even tweeted it in real time. did he know he was on a split screen the entire evening? because style matters, tamron, and the substance -- you know the fact finders are already having a field day on. stylistically he lost the debate. he looked dmismissive and troubled to be there. the president did not respond in kind the way he did in the rally today. >> anne a lot of people are saying all of you folks talking about style and the body language are missing the point. this was supposed to be about substance, and that goes so far

because you have the president today saying who is the real mitt romney. the question is for example when mitt romney said he knows nothing about tax credits for people with jets and he said to the president i don't know what you're talking about, why not reply do you know what i'm talking about about offshore accounts and your absence of information regarding your taxes? without coming off, i guess, as being angry or some of these other notions floated around on this conversation, anne. >> yeah. i think that that obama campaign and the white house has not just a stylistic problem, although they have that, but a substance problem along the lines you described. this was a debate. what you do in debate is your counterpart says something, and when you disagree you counter them and press them and ask questions. president obama didn't do that. he didn't seem to come in with his own points he made and didn't talk about the 47%, talk about romney's work at bain capital, press him on the 5 trillion, defend his own cuts to

medicare. there's a long list of things he didn't say, yes, i think that's why you heard him giving a robust appearance today on the stump. you see him continue to do that, and the become campaign is signalling it will be a different performance next time. >> 58 million people are the early numbers of people that watched the debate. i saw david axelrod and david plauffe didn't bring it up because there's ads out there. you've been a vocal supporter of the president. let me play it. >> there's no question here that president obama showed that his campaign has been doing the work for him, and mitt romney has been doing the work for his campaign. without a question the obama supporters were on their heels last night and disappointed, wondering where was this guy who they've been seeing in these tv commercials going so hard at mitt romney? >> to put in perspective, we don't know if there's an actual

bump for mitt romney on this. it will take days before we see the polling which has been repeated over and over. a lot of bahaobama supporters h look of defeat because they fought so hard and they wanted to see that man in the mirror, a reflection of the fight that they've put up for him over many months. >> i think that's right. it's frustrating when you see a guy you're rooting for not fighting and being beat. >> give me your perspective on where you felt he was being beat? >> it was all stylistic. substantively barack obama was right on, because mitt romney was breath-takingly dishonsest last night. mitt romney was more in control of the debate and walked all over jim lehrer and obama didn't fight back. obama had the facts and didn't use them, but this is what obama does. in 2008 when he ran against

hillary clinton, people said he wasn't fighting hard enough and against john mccain and in the health care debate, he wasn't fighting hard enough. he won all the fights. >> what's interesting, our first team and others brought up the comparison of the incumbent curse. george w. bush, ronald reagan in '84, george h.w. bush in '92, the president didn't seem to be on his game. mitt romney made a surprise appearance to a cpac event in denver still courting the conservatives but say if you know people that voted for president obama, tell them to come on over to our side. that's ironic because i don't imagine he knows many conservative republicans who voted for president obama the last time or plan to this time. nevertheless, you're no fan of governor romney. did you become a fan last night as a conservative who has doubted his credibility from the minute he entered this race? >> well, i think my credentials as a non-romney show are pretty well secured.

i have good street cred for your audience. frankly, i thought mitt romney did the best job of advancing even a modicom of viewpoints and stepping up on a national stage than like when al gore invented the internet. mitt romney, unlike john mccain, mitt romney wants to win the presidency, and a lot of conservatives have asked themselves that question the past couple of weeks. i think frankly liberals ought to ask them that question. does barack obama want to be president? he looked like he'd rather have his toenails removed with a dull, rusty blade than on that stage that last night? >> does he wants to support education? he says he won't cut education. that is different from congressman paul ryan's budget, who is the guy that you conservatives champion as the truth teller for your party.

the list goes on and on for taxes as well. so the guy you're saying who showed up yesterday, if the scorecard is correct, is as far from a conservative, a re masum you can put on the table. if you were honest, that's not the guy you would vote for, maybe someone in the middle, a moderate republican. but you a staunch conservative would not vote for mitt romney, the one na showed up last night? >> well, one of the things -- your question, of course, answers why i've done what i did the last five years trying to stop him from being the nominee, but he did effective things defending conservative values last night. if you look at one focus groups one of the networks did of undecided voters in colorado, his numbers were the highest when he talked about the role of government freesh government, freedom for the individual, the founding documents. these are things we haven't seen a republican candidate talk about and mean on a national stage in many, many years. that was the most liked and

popular answer romney gave last night. a conservative describing why the president's policies failed. he was have effective last night. this is a guy from the romney people hate almost as much as -- >> let me bring in keith boykin on this. with health care it seems that the governor is having both ways here. he wants states in control of health care and medicaid, but he says he would have a formula based on what he did in massachusetts if he became president. so that would be some kind of federal health care, universal health care? >> republicans hate obama care, except last night mitt romney embraced tentative bahama care without calling it that. he would he should repeal it and keep the basic principles behind it. republicans hate the idea of redistributing wealth. mitt romney talked about he's not going to cut taxes for the wealthy and middle class. the republicans hate the idea of keeping all these government programs in place. they want to cut spending, but

mitt romney wouldn't say any programs he wanted to cut in spending last night except for pbs. the only other thing he mentioned was obama care, which adds $109 billion to the deficit. east cuts less than 0.1 of 1%. >> i don't want to be a bad moderator. let me get you in and move on to anne. go ahead. >> i want to thank keith for admitting his side believes in redistribution of wealth. we believe in cutting government spending. >> mitt romney doesn't believe that. your own candidate has taken both sides, and last night was not the mitt romney who campaigned for four months to win the republican primary. you know that as well as i do, and you steve, have been so honest in critiquing him should be more honest about his dishonesty last night. >> let me bring in anne on that. anne, back to the president and this incumbent curse.

he didn't bring up the 47% and talk about bain capital outsourcing jobs, tax returns and offshore accounts. do you believe his campaign gave him that advice? why not use those weapons, and you don't compromise your likability when you were telling what you believe is the truth. >> well, i think you just put your finger why they didn't do it in the first place. they wanted to go into this debate talking about what obama would dpo in a second term and not focusing on mitt romney. it sounds like they didn't want to go into a debate but a one-way conversation to be positive. he could try to be more uplifting and less combative to talk about his own positive vision for the future. that's what they tried to do, and instead you saw him not responding. i think you'll see him having to figure out how to do what you just described, which is to be factual without being seen as argumentative, not getting into a successtusle with romney to t

voters and to talk about it to inspire his own base and fact based and not too aggressive, which is what they worried about. >> michael, some of the people asked right after the debate which candidate did the best. 67% said mitt romney, 25% said barack obama. i want to play what chris matthews said last night and what he said this morning live on "today." let me play it. >> i don't know what he was doing out there. he had his head down. he was enduring the debate rather than fighting it. romney, on the other hand, came in with a campaign. he had a plan. he was going to dominate the time and be aaggressive. i thought romney was excellent with his civility, his respect for the office of president. i think he handled it beautifully. i think the president could have done the same thing and sliced through all the claims by romney. romney has been accused of etch-a-sketch. last night was his greatest achievement. >> david axelrod and david plauffe were out today and didn't admit it wasn't a great

debate for the president, which is to be expected. do you think chris's sentiment is a reflection of many of the democrats that supported the president or independents that supported the president? >> i believe that governor romney won that debate, but not by the extent to now which he's being given credit. i made sure that i weighed in last night on twitter with what i thought before all the spin began, and you've got to give romney the edge unquestionably. now his performance is growing as people are at water coolers and sharing with one another what all the conventional buzz was. i have questions about the way in which the president was prepared for this debate, and my one example would be this. he didn't know, neither of them did, what questions would be asked. they certainly knew they were getting two minutes at the end for a closing statement. what exactly was the message of the president in that closing statement? i have no idea. that should have been rehearsed. >> we're going to talk about how mitt romney perhaps has been declared the winner over the water cooler to your point.

maybe it's the theatrics or ez. >> kline says because of vagueness in his answer. we're going to look at that. i appreciate it. we have breaking news out of libya. the fbi confirmed agents from the bureau visited the site of the last month's deadly attack from the consulate in benghazi. pete williams joins us live from washington. we heard the fbi could not get in because it was such a dangerous situation. what do you have for us now? >> today they did aaccompaccomiy special forces from the u.s. military who secured the compound while the agents went in and tried to exploit what evidence they could. it's been three weeks since the ambassador was shot. attorney general holder was asked today, and he said he believes the investigation is going well because of all the other work that the fbi and other investigative agencies have been doing talking to witnesses. he says there's lots of things going on outside of benghazi, and that he believes the investigation is progressing satisfactorily.

obviously, it would have been better. the fbi would have preferred fob in there earlier, but they believe this is not a huge setback. >> thank you very much. pete, greatly appreciate you updating us on the breaking news there it. next on "news nation," garden state guru. chris christie predicted the debate would be a game changer, and he said it would turn the race upside-down. what is governor christie saying today? >> i just came out and said exactly what i believed, which was i've seen this guy do this before. >> patrick gaspar from the dnc joins me to talk about the president's next move. can patrick answer the million dollar question. why didn't the president bring up mitt romney's 47% remark? plus, how many tweets were sent out during the debate. mike tsd he sent a few. why one company is apologizing for a tweet sent out on its official website disparaging president obama's grandmother. join the conversation on twitter. you can find us @tamronhall

and @newsnation.

[ thunder crashes ] [ female announcer ] some people like to pretend a flood could never happen to them. and that their homeowners insurance protects them. [ thunder crashes ] it doesn't. stop pretending. only flood insurance covers floods. ♪ visit floodsmart.gov/pretend to learn your risk. and these come together, one thing you can depend on is that these will come together. delious and wholesome.

some combinations were just meant to be. tomato soup from campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do.

every time in this campaign that mitt romney had his back up against the wall and had adebate, he came out and had a game-changing debate. on sunday i came out sxsd what i believed, which was i have seen this guy do it before, and i think he'll do it again. he did last night. >> chris christie gives himself a pat on the back on "morning joe" after predicts on "meet the press" that the debate would be a game changer for governor romney. joining me is patrick gaspar, the executive director of the democratic national committee.

thank you for your time. what is your impression of the debate? how would you score president obama since the heat is on him today? >> there's a basic threshold that you meet when you run for president or you're a president. people expect you to be honest and candid with them. the president was more than honest. he was transparent about his plans and gave context for where we came from and how we dug out a deep hole and pointed the way forward with his vision. conversely, mitt romney put on quite a show last night, and he was as entertaining as one of the greatest -- >> was the president prepared for that show as you referred to it? >> look, we have a clear sense of mitt romney. we know the guy on the stage last night was the same man that tried to run to the left of ted kennedy once and to the right of rick perry. he lies with conviction. >> let me play what governor sunun said an hour ago with andrea mitchell. >> did you mean to call barack

obama the president of the united states lazy? >> yes. i think you saw him admit it the night before when he delivered the pizzas. he said, you know, they're making me do this work. he didn't want to prepare for this debate. he didn't want to prepare for this debate. he's lazy and disengaged. >> do you want to respond to that? >> how do you respond to that. john sun nu has a pension for provocation. they can defend that insult, but last night the president again had a very clear adult conversation with the american people about the circumstances we're in today. mitt romney, like the true used car salesman he is, was all over the lot and spinning tales all over the place. people aren't going to buy that lemon. >> supporters of the president, some are not happy today. they feel for example aalone on the $716 billion that romney

accused the president of taking out of medicare, the president did not refute that. let me play this moment. it has a lot of people concerned. >> on medicare, for current retirees, he's cutting $716 billion from the program. now, he says by not overpaying hospitals and providers. actually, just going to them and saying, we're going to reduce the rate you're paid across the board. everybody gets a lower rate. that's not just going after places where there's abuse. they says we'll cut the rates. i can't new england how you cut medicare $716 billion for current recipients of medicare. >> the president could have explained that that money coming from trimming future increases over the next decade. he could have explained that this is the example same amount in the ryan budget. why not go head-on that example alone? why not go head-on? >> that was one snippet, tamron, clearly.

there were many instances where the president pushed back hard on medicare, on social security and on the tax cuts and on education as well. there are many, many instances where he pushed back hard. there were so many lies being rained upon the president last night he didn't know which direction to turn the umbrella. >> you think he was overwhelmed by the inaccuracies? >> that's not what i'm saying. he lied with conviction and servitude about education and about medicare. he was all over the place, and at some point the truth will out on all the issues over the next few days and weeks. >> we're almost out of time. the 47% remark, why not bring that to the table as a weapon in this debate? >> tamron, it's on the table. it certainly has sat ratded, and the president raised it last night, i'm sure mitt romney would have declared it wasn't him in the video, that it was clint eastwood or somebody else.

he lied about everything else. >> you are banking over the next days that the president -- >> the president told the truth and had a krconversation with t american public. >> they point out how the president may have lost the debate, he can still win the next 24 hours. how will the jobs report, for example, factor into the big picture? plus, if your candidate doesn't win, jetblue may have an offer you can't refuse. it's one of the things we thought you should know. you can join the "news nation" on facebook. we're at facebook.com/newsnation. this is ilia's song of the day for you. time for your birs entrepreneur of the week. andrew wausentach is the owner of his family's business. today these tanks are shaped by

hand with half-century old tools. he says you don't throw out what works. you just build upon it. for more watch "your business" in sunday morning at 7:30 on msnbc.

wooohooo....hahaahahaha! oh...there you go. wooohooo....hahaahahaha! i'm gonna stand up to her! no you're not. i know. you know ronny folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico sure are happy. how happy are they jimmy? happier than a witch in a broom factory. get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. coming up next on "news nation," did vagueness pay off? >> let me repeat what i said. i'm not in favor of a $5 trillion tax cut. >> "the washington post's" ezra

kline says governor romney won the debate because he didn't get into specifics. plus a rough few months, but did mitt romney reset the campaign with his debate performance. it's the "news nation" gut check. you can chime in and check out the tumblr page. you'll find behind the scenes pictures. this is jen's pick on the day after the debate. [ female announcer ] ready for a taste of what's hot? check out the latest collection of snacks from lean cuisine. creamy spinach artichoke dip, crispy garlic chicken spring rolls. they're this season's must-have accessory. lean cuisine. be culinary chic.

[ male announcer ] one in six. that's how many struggle with hunger in america. ♪ but what if there was a simple way to feed those in need? now, there is. shop walmart for select brands' low prices through october 12th and you help secure meals for local families. go to walmart.com/hunger and learn more about how you can join the fight. because hunger is a big problem and it needs a big answer. what's the strategy to flip the momentum back his way after suffering what's called a decisive defeat in the first presidential debate. if romney won the instant reactions from last night's debates, it's more than possible that the obama camp can win the next 24 hours. also tomorrow the labor

department releases its monthly jobs report potentially, giving team obama a chance to change the narrative. let me bring in political editor -- senior political edit editor, mark murray. patrick gaspar was here a moment ago. he had the same strategy you pointed out earlier this morning. they're looking at the long picture or big picture here, and not focusing too much on the one debate. >> that's right. they tried to turn the message. they had an aggressive conference call today. you saw a fiery president obama campaigning in denver trying to point out what they said were misstatements that mitt romney made at the debate last night. so that's what they are actually trying to do. i will say as we wrote in first read, there is that kind of 24-hour period on how the campaigns can try to shake things. just seeing the body language, seeing a lot of the commentary, the obama campaign is still struggling. diana on andrea mitchell's

program said president obama looked tired. you don't want to hear that from a democratic congresswoman about the president after a debate. democrats seemed a little frazled after what happened last night. politics is a burchl of up and downs, and whoever wins contests ride those ups and downs the best. >> absolutely. we say the next 24 hours. it's the next 31, 33 days. i can't keep up anymore. the reality here, i think, mark, is that people are mystified by the president's looking down. chris matthews brought that up several times. these are small pieces of the puzzle we cannot stress enough. we don't know if mitt romney will get a bump from this, but his appearance proved that he came to play ball, and he came to play hardball with the president. do we have any more insight into the strategy down to the whole looking at his papers the entire time or much of the time when romney was confronting him? >> tamron, we don't have any idea on the strategy.

to a lot of people it looked like to borrow a football team doing a little defense, not too aggressive and above the fray, keep your lead. as we know in politics as well as in football, sometimes when you have a defense, you can give up an easy, quick score. that seemed it to happen last night. you regarded about the lack of fight for president obama. i don't think it was surprising that mitt romney had a good debate performance. a lot of us expected that. i think what surprised everyone was president obama didn't seem up and as energized as mitt romney was. >> i think you're absolutely right on that. this jobs report tomorrow, how might this factor in depending on the information made public? >> right. it was a month ago after the republican convention and after the democratic conventions that republicans were looking to the jobs report to change the subject. now democrats are trying to do the exact same thing. a little note of caution. even though it was a tepid jobs report last time around, that really didn't help mitt romney. if it's a better than expected

number, a lot of the commentary is still about last night's debate. >> we'll see what happens in the next 24. thanks, mark. instant polls show mitt romney was the clear winner last night. in a cnn survey they picked romney 67% on to 25%. uncommitted voters polled by cbs picked governor romney 2:1 over the president. how did governor romney do it. past the energy and theatrics we talked about today. ezra kline writes in the "washington post" today, quote, for the most part this is romney's strategy being purposefully vague about the nature of his policies paid off. here's an example. >> governor romney's central economic plan calls for a $5 trillion tax cut. >> virtually everything he said about my tax plan is inaccurate. >> for 18 months he's running on this tax plan, and now, five weeks before the election, he's saying that his big, bold idea is never mind. >> let me repeat what i said. i'm not in favor of a $5

trillion tax cut. >> joining me now is ezra kline, who is an msnbc policy analyst. ezra, thank you for your time. >> good afternoon. >> let's talk about the headline there, the vagueness here. if that is the reason mitt romney won, is that further proof that the president did not step up with the challenge that was needed to assert himself regarding this vagueness? >> i don't think there's any doubt that president obama underperformed last night, but mitt romney kind of trapped him. they should have been ready for this. i'm surprised by -- there's an argument that obama made last night you heard a lot particularly in the liberal media today. mitt romney was lying about his tax plan because he says he doesn't have a $5 trillion tax cut. romney has been clear on taxes, and he's clear there's no possible way you can know what he's proposed to do to the tax code. he has a tax cut that would cost $5 trillion. that part is true. the president is right about

that. romney said from the very beginning, he's consistent so nothing he said last night was new. it's important to put that clearly. he's always said he will pay for that tax cut. that tax cut will not be passed the way it is currently in. he will work with congress to find offsets. romney has not named any offsets or shown how to pay for it, and it's not clear that he can, given the size of it and given his promise of not letting it become a tax cut for the rich. that's what romney did last night. every time obama said you have a $5 trillion tax cut, he said no i don't. the truth is we don't know what it is. as he's running for president, i think it's information that we're frankly entitled to. >> let me play another clip. the president criticized romney for a lack of specifics in the tax plan and wall street reform and health care. that's how that went down. >> my experience as a governor is if i come in and lay down a piece of legislation and say, it's my way or the highway, i don't get a lot done. what i do is the same way that

tip o'neal and ronald reagan worked together some years ago. when ronald reagan ran for office, he laid out the principles that he was going to foster. >> so it's about principles, not actual hard plans. in a million years did you ever think that a victory could come out of this debate base odd vagueness? i ask that because knowing in we knew all of the weapons both could quite honestly use and weapons the moderator would have available to press both candidates. >> you know what really aamuses me about that line, though? another part of the debate romney attacked obama for doing too much to allow harry reid and nancy pelosi in the health care policy. sometimes romney says obama puts his plans out too much, and other times it's too much to negotiate with congress. romney's approach here has not been to not put out specifics on his policy. it's been to not put out the hard parts. i want it to cut the budget by $7 trillion or taxes by $5 trillion, but he doesn't tell

you the details. am i surprised that led to a win for him? not really. i don't think last night of a trick. romney came and was a better debater. i don't think president obama walked into that debate or none straight demonstrated a clear vision of what he tried to get mitt romney to say, what points to pin him down on. romney won the debate. last night romney was more skilled. it doesn't change the policies. >> ezra, will the strategy work in the next two debates that heavy here? will this vague strategy work with foreign policy and the next debate beyond that? >> i think that the obama team is going to be more ready for what romney's able to bring to the debate than they were in this one. they'll be prepared for romney to walk in and tell his credentials. romney will change up his strategy.

in general first debates are lopsided. the incumbent tends to recover a little bit in the second debate. whether we'll follow that trend line is anybody's guess. >> thank you, ezra. appreciate it. now to the third person on stage at the debates last night, you. yes, you didn't have a vocal response, but let me tell you, every moment people like you were chiming in. twitter reports today that it was the most tweeted event in u.s. politics generating over 10 million tweets in 90 minutes. perspective, that means just six years, but now some critics say that the twitter explosion is not necessarily a good thing. in fact, politico's patrick gave vin says it's a rush of information by being too overwhelmingly to consume. patrick joins us now from d.c. patrick, you said twitter has jumped the shark. that's a "happy days" reference but that's when it's done for you. why do you think that?

>> i am sure i'm coming off as a grumpy old man. it seems as if -- for the first time last night you heard a lot of journalists say during the debate i'm going to turn off twitter for a number of reasons. one, especially if you follow a lot of reporters, the stream is relentless. it's almost literally impossible to keep up with it. number two, you actually don't allow yourself to actually watch the debate. you can either, you know -- if you keep your tabs on twitter and you're watching the debate, you're probably doing both half-well. i think what we saw last night was there were about 60 million people tuning into the debates a month out from the election. we have a narrow field of candidates. it's not like in february where we had republicans and people weren't tuning in. you had an acute focus last night, and a lot of reporters said it was impossible to keep up. that's not saying a bad thing. you can choose -- you can choose to follow whoever you want, but you're not doing anything well. you're not reading the twitter

feed well or watching the debate well. >> there was some controversy as always with twitter. this one was kitchen aid. there was a tweet that came on their official twitter account. it says grandma even knew it was going to be bad. she died three days before he became president. kitchenaid has apologized and said i would like to personally apologize to president obama, his family and everybody on twitter for the offensive tweet sent early. it was sent carelessly on the twitter feed. to your point when people are watching and tweeting, i don't know what this person could have been thinking, nevertheless it shows the dangers of social media with instant reaction and the instant ability to put something out there. >> in addition to that, we also saw last night and we've seen this in the past to be fair, but oftentimes twitter does paint a colorful portrait of what's happening. i see karl rove over to the side or rubio is interviewed by msnbc or whatever. we do see increasingly so more

really irrelevant things being tweeted about. what is the meeting of so-and o so-and-so's tie? what is the meaning of michelle obama is folding her hands? these aren't random people but mainstream reporters tweeting those things. we've run out of things to tweet about and now we're stuck about it. >> biggest twitter moment is when the moderator quipped let's not when romney wanted to continue. obama said i had five seconds. we know that moment. romney spars with the moderator over rules and obama calls obama's plan never mind. those are substantive things, obviously, as set aside the moderator's comment that is had people going on twitter. >> i don't want to portray the total debbie downer here. there's a lot of good things about twitter. big bird also dominated a lot of

the conversation, too, so there was less substantive things. there are good things. the issue is simply a volume. as more people join twitter it's impossible to keep up and watch the news event you're supposed to be watching. >> glad you cleared that up. greatly appreciate it. up next, a rare form of meningitis killed five people and left dozens more sick in five states. health officials expect more cases. we'll get an update next. first, there's a lot going on today. here's things we thought you should know. jetblue, the airline is offering americans who might be upset about their candidate's defeat in the upcoming november election a chance to follow-through on threats to leave the country. you can sign up at the jetblue website for a chance to win one of a thousand free trips to a tropical vacation destination. jetblue's former ceo and founder is a good friend of mitt romney's by the way. president debate parties were held across the country last

night. at least 4400 were organized through the obama campaign through his website. what's a watch party without a drinking game. check out the rules from one drinking game. you drink if president obama says let me be clear. drink it mitt romney says private sector. those are the things we just thought you should know.

developing now. syria is formally apologizing for ar mortar attack that killed five civilians in turkey. now the parliament approved military operations against syria. officials say this is not a declaration of war. this comes as turkey fires on targets in syria now for a second day. we just arrived on the turkish border with syria. what's the latest from there, aman? >> reporter: tamron, here are local residents say this is the first time in the past ten days

they're actually able to come out in the streets of this town because the shelling from syria turkey has become so frequent that life here has been unbearable for them. today as you mentioned the turkish parliament gave the country's prime minister authority to carry out large scale operations inside turkey -- inside syria, rather, and many are afraid that could ring alarm bells for a conflict between turkey and syria. the deputy prime minister of the country, though, says this is not a declaration of war. he says it is only a deterrent to protect turkey and the turkish people who are consistently under attack. tamron. >> live for us on the border of turkey and syria. thank you so much, aman. up next in the "news nation" gut check, did mitt romney's performance in the debate reset his campaign? we'll tell you how to weigh in on that one. first, five people are now dead from an outbreak of rare fungal meningitis, and that tops our look at stories around the "news

nation." health officials announced minutes ago that a patient in tennessee has now died. they say it's now sickened at least 35 people. the victims are in five states, most in tennessee, though. the type of meningitis involved is not contagious. the first major snowfall of the year is sweeping into the northern midwest. forecasters predict 6 inches of snow in north dakota and minnesota. farmer worry the cold snap could delay the harvest of already drought-stricken crops. miguel cabrera is now the first latino to win baseball's triple crown. the detroit tigers lead the league with .330 batting average. is that how you say that? .330. that show you i don't watch baseball. i'm told this is really cool. go miguel. the last triple crown winner was in 1967. woma wow. the rock 'n roll hall of fame is

branching out to hip-hop. nwa and public enemy are among the nominees v. it's the first nominations for both groups. the winners will be announced later this year. [ male announcer ] this is rudy. his morning starts with arthritis pain. and two pills. afternoon's overhaul starts with more pain. more pills. triple checking hydraulics. the evening brings more pain. so, back to more pills. almost done, when... hang on. stan's doctor recommended aleve. it can keep pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is rudy. who switched to aleve. and two pills for a day free of pain. ♪ [ female announcer ] and try aleve for relief from tough headaches.

[ male announcer ] you start your day... love you, too. ...thinking about what's important to you -- your family...

...the mortgage... the kids' college tuition. [ cellphone ringing ] but life insurance? [ horn honking ] life is unpredictable. that's why at fidelity life we want you to think about term life insurance -- taking care of your family's future expenses if something happens to you. it's easy. we get to know you and your needs, then give you our best quote and our competitors'. you choose and save up to 70%. that could mean $250,000 of coverage for just $15 a month. we offer plans with no medical exam, and we've been in business for over 100 years. call fidelity life. ♪ or visit fidelitylife.com for your free quote. [ horn honks ] hey, honey. do we have life insurance? ♪ [ male announcer ] or visit fidelitylife.com to secure your family's future today.

and you can, of course, join the "news nation" on our twitter page @newsnation. it's time for the gut check. high off the vapors from last night's debate win, governor romney heads to virginia where a latest nbc news poll shows the president with a narrow lead in that state. is this the beginning of a romney resurgence? his debate performance excited the base and gave his donors an extra shot of confidence well. what does your gut tell you?

does last night's campaign reset romney's campaign. look at what the "news nation" is saying about yesterday's gut check. we asked you to go to facebook and weigh in on the debate. mark wrote, president obama when going to stand up to republicans and quit letting them talk smack to you. very disappointed. i had to clean that up. disappointing debate tonight, but heard nothing to make me change my mind. tony wrote this election is about so much more than 90 minutes of an inconsistently moderated debate on substance and trust along this election shnt be this close as this juncture. that does it for "news nation." tomorrow, september jobs report out, and zachary will join us and anne. "the cycle" is up next fmpltz . i have a cold... i took dayquil,

but i still have a runny nose. [ male announcer ] dayquil doesn't treat that. huh? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus rushes relief to all your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ sighs ] thank you! [ male announcer ] you're welcome. that's the cold truth! that's a good thing, but it doesn't cover everything. only about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. so consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, they pick up some of what medicare doesn't pay. and save you up to thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket costs. call today to request a free decision guide to help you better understand what medicare is all about.

and which aarp medicare supplement plan works best for you. with these types of plans, you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients... plus, there are no networks, and you'll never need a referral to see a specialist. there's a range of plans to choose from, too. and they all travel with you. anywhere in the country. join the millions who have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp, an organization serving the needs of people 50 and over for generations... and provided by unitedhealthcare insurance company, which has over 30 years of experience behind it. call today. remember, medicare supplement insurance helps cover some of what medicare doesn't pay -- expenses that could really add up. these kinds of plans could save you up to thousands in out-of-pocket costs... you'll be able choose any doctor who accepts medicare patients.

and you never need referrals. so don't wait. with all the good years ahead, look for the experience and commitment to go the distance with you. call now to request your free decision guide. this easy-to-understand guide will answer some of your questions, and help you find the aarp medicare supplement plan that's right for you.

you're in the cycle and we begin with the spin. don't think the obama campaign is flying under the radar today. >> tomorrow's jobs report could bring one of the candidates back down to earth. will that be the political story that shapes this week. >> i'm s.e. cupp. the obama teamworked hard to lower expectations before the debate and the president lowered them more during the debate. >> i'm toure. last week my team crushed the opponent to clinch victory. >> see you. see you. another home run for granderson. his second of the night. yankees lead 10-2. >> the new york yankees won the a.l. east. what did you think i was talking about? >> all right. let's take a breath, relax, and become immersed in "the cycle" for this thursday, october 4th.